As we all know, hotels publish both check-in and check-out times. While many hotels will generally be flexible with letting you check-in early, people reasonably expect that at the latest, a room will be ready at the published time.
Continue reading: Are Hotel Check-In Times Guaranteed? What If Your Room Isn’t Ready?
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
I just stayed at a Numa property in Lisbon. Arrived in LIS from BOS around 10.00am, jumped on the metro into town and Numa’s app notified me that my room was ready around 11.00am. I loved that proactive communication.
I recently checked into the Conrad NY Downtown. I took a redeye into JFK and arrived at the hotel at 9am. I was pleased that they had a room available and only charged $100. Totally worth it when traveling with a young kid.
Never had a problem checking in at the normal posted times at any other hotel I’ve stayed at.
Something that I think many people are not aware of: When you really need to check in early in the morning (example over night flight to Europe) you can PAY for the night before and you MUST advise the hotel that you will be arriving the next calendar morning and give an approximate arrival time. Again, this may not be for everyone but it is " a thing" as they say.
I appreciate that sometimes it's beyond the hotel's control like sudden short staff and your room is not ready. But they all should have ways to mitigate. I have been in hotels where they have a check in lounge (simple and basic) but if i didn't want to go anywhere I can stay in the lounge or leave my bags and go off property. I have had hotels offer me drinks and meal vouchers in their restaurant. Then there is the complete opposite. Shockingly at a Conrad. Though it's just a Conrad by name and it's the one in Vegas which is horrendous. Room wasn't ready at 4pm.when I asked when it would be ready they just shrug. I told them if they were actually a Conrad they would have offered to take my luggage, sit in the bar for a drink on them, or at least a coffee at the lobby Starbucks. There were lots of options and they chose nothing other than wander around with your suitcase and come back every hour. Pathetic.
I’m a lifetime Platinum with Marriott. When you check-in on the App it asks you what time you’ll check in. But I find it’s completely useless as they just check me in as usual or make me wait. I’m like, why even ask??
Checking in after an overnight flight is a great way to delay adjustment to the destination time zone!
Did you feel at all duped after choosing a $750 hotel?
Would be curious to know your annual income.
@Throwawayname - Checking in doesn't imply sleeping. I recently had one of those awful early flights to Asia, landing in Taipei at 9 and getting a room right away (I didn't pay for the night before but they had a room available when I arrived) was a godsend even though I was keen to not go to bed before evening, as I could take a shower, chill a bit etc before heading out.
LOL. Only Americans will be pleased by being charged an extra fee for something that is considered absolutely natural anywhere else. If the room is available, you should just get it.
Worst that happened : Booked a suite (many years ago) at the Oberoi in New Delhi, we arrived early evening, and were leaving the enxt day early to move to Agra. Room wasn't ready. Wasn't ready until 2 AM...And we weren't the only guests concerned....
Needless to say, front hadn't the best night ever.
The other way around, even if we have a late check out (and "need it") we try to vacate the room as early as possible or at least in a condition where it can be cleaned for the next guest, and just use one room to store our luggage.
If you were utterly unable to sleep the night before, this can be the lesser of the evils on the table. Staggering through the day and then collapsing into bed and missing dinner can be a not-great life choice.
It also clearly states it is not guaranteed and they will try their best to accommodate the timing so it is on you to be flexible with this. On the contrary, when it works, which is half the time for the properties I normally go to, it works perfectly but I am always mindful of the fact that this is not a guarantee
Moxy BLR is amazing for this. As Platinum elite member, they let me check in at 6am everytime, though only when the hotel has rooms available. One time when it was very busy, they had me wait 3 hours till 11am for a room to checkout and be prepared, which was acceptable considering it is still early. Hotels can accommodate and if they clearly value elites, they will go out of the way to make the experience memorable. Because logic says they will return that property due to that experience, which is the case for me with the Moxy. But well hospitality is down the drain in USA nowadays
Well, considering it wasn’t something I was expecting at all since I don’t usually get early check-in requests approved for afternoon arrivals. Also, we were tired after a redeye flight, I wanted to shower, and I wanted my son to chill versus walking around in the cold for hours. So yup, I was totally fine with paying the $100. 🙂
Elite status helps so much. I love Hyatt, where you can request early check in and late check out directly from the app. Without status, you’re subject to long lines and waiting it out, which has happened a time or two. Brings me back to a couple of nightmarish car rental pick situations, where it literally took three hours to get a car- DEN Thrifty, DET Thifty on a weekend Michigan was playing, and PHX Thrifty, where they were so busy, even when you got checked in you had to sit in the parking lot just for any vehicle to be available.
Nah I do not buy into this commentary. Most hotels will NOT let you check in before time even when they have empty rooms available and which can be plain to see. It is a rare occurrence when they do. With time courtesy, empathy and flexibility are almost extinct in the corporate world. They will make you wait and presto when the clock points to the right digits the rooms are miraculously available.
We had this experience at Hilton Lake Como this year, despite the room being ready, the front desk manager would not hand over the key until 3 pm exactly.
Being Diamond Lifetime, it was an irritant not to be valued. Shame on them.
We checked in at Grand Naniloa Hotel Hilo - a DoubleTree by Hilton at 4 PM in June 2025 but was refused because they were understaffed. We finally check in at 8PM. After talked to the GM, he only waived parking charge. I used the chat on Hilton app and they offered me 100k points immediately. I accepted. Btw, I'm a Diamond with Hilton.
Stay away this hotel, terrible management!!!
I booked the Times Square Edition (via Ford B Travel, btw) for March of 2024 for a surprise for my husband’s birthday along with a SNL show. The hotel was communicative pre-stay and I shared our arrival time of 8 PM (check-in is listed as 4 pm). The room was not . In fact, it was nearly 10 pm before the room was ready. We were given a comped drink in the bar and offered breakfast…that was already included in our rate. The entire stay went like this…not a fan. The corner room with a balcony overlooking Times Square was super cool…but just about everything else fell flat. After complaining, I got some Bonvoy points. Yippee…
@Samo you were lucky. I did not get my first room until 2 pm and my second room until 5 pm even as an elite member. That was also only available when I had to keep checking with them via phone calls.
"Room not ready at 4" can happen if housekeeping is running behind or there's heavy elite turnover.
"Room not ready at 8" really should not.
(I feel like the right response on breakfast would be to try and negotiate upwards if you've only got a potentially-limited elite breakfast offering included.)